Palatine kids 1st in Cook suburbs for swine flu shots

October 19, 2009

Children in Palatine are expected to be first in line for free H1N1 swine flu vaccinations offered through the Cook County Department of Public Health, which is scheduling inoculations in the suburbs by zip code.

The department has ranked zip codes in suburban Cook County using factors including population, poverty level and access to health care, to determine an order for offering voluntary inoculations, department spokesman Amy Poore said.

Vaccine is expected to start arriving shortly, and a steady supply should be available the end of October or early November, the department said. The distribution schedule could be adjusted as vaccine arrives and school districts are ready for it, Poore said.

Through a federally funded program, the county plans to offer the vaccine to students from kindergarten through 12th grade, in public and private schools. The program is starting with elementary and middle schools.

"We have to start scheduling and planning. It's a huge undertaking to inoculate all schoolchildren in suburban Cook County," Poore said.

Parents in Palatine-based Community Consolidated School District 15 were told by letter last week that clinics will be set up on Oct. 29 and 30 in elementary and junior high schools in Palatine zip codes 60067 and 60074. Vaccinations are voluntary and require parental consent.

Students in the district's schools in Rolling Meadows and Hoffman Estates will be offered vaccinations later in the year.

The Chicago Health Department said last week it will set up free clinics to administer H1N1 swine flu vaccine at six City Colleges of Chicago campuses as the vaccine becomes available.